Faulty goods rights after supply

unsure_consumer

Hi I bought a phone from a international , but UK land address, web site on 13/11/19. It went faulty on 19/1. After an exchange of emails I was told on 27/1 to return the phone at my expense to their regional office in London where it would be examined. The phone was totally dead by not turning on, power was getting from the charger as it wa getting warm on charge.



[FONT=&quot]Regarding your issue,you can send back the device for a test purpose from our end and for your information, damaged product will not be refunded. We can refund only if the product is found faulty. Please check the address mentioned-[/FONT]


It was returned on 29/1 with no rectification or even examination attempt and the following email was received



[FONT=&quot]The phone was delivered on 15th November, 2019.

It is outside 14 days return period. Therefore, we had to send it back. But the phone is still under manufacturer warranty.

Please be requested to contact the below : < manufacturer web site in china>
[/FONT]


Having read various posts on this forum and elsewhere my understanding is


1. My contract is with the selling not the manufacturer
2. Consumer Rights act means a faulty good within 6 months of purchase is deemed to have the fault on supply.


Am i right please?

hollydays

What's the name of the limited company.
What was the address? Have you checked if it's a virtual office.
Are you going to return to this thread?

DCFC79

Re #2 you will need to get a report done stating that it is faulty from the start.

Aylesbury_Duck

When you say "UK land address", do you mean an actual postal address or just a .co.uk domain? If the latter, it means nothing.

unsure_consumer

Hi Thanks for the replies. Yes I am still here.



The company is called worldsim dot com. They specialise in supplying sims for various countries. My current mobile supplier has good rates on about 70 countries except the one I am going to visit soon, canada. I used a worldsim sim about 3 years ago on my last visit there when it worked reasonably well. They have recently branched out in to supplying mobile devices at a good price which is why I bought the phone as it had dual sim capbility. i.e. use 2nd sim for talking to local numbers but still receive texts/calls on my uk number. TBH the phone was not very expensive so if it comes to nothing I won't be too upset. I'm just annoyed they are trying to deny responsibility. The phone was delivered direct from china so I presume they have no stock in the UK.



After I received the email I was on an online chat with a support person who just kept repeating 'our web site says or our t&cs are, contact the manufacturer;. It ended up with her suggesting I contact customer services so I have raised a complaint with them.



Out of curiosty I did raise an issue with the manufacturer who gave a robot response of get back within 48 hours. 3 days later no response. Looking at their user forum it appears to be a common issue with that phone. A common theme is the manufacturer support seems dire. I suspect as I did not purchase direct they won't want to know.



Looking at the supplying company web site it states



[FONT=&quot]Returning Faulty Goods[/FONT] In the case of receiving faulty products, we are happy to issue you a refund or an exchange. Shopping online with WorldSIM gives you the same consumer rights under the Sale of Goods Act as you have when buying in a store. Initially you will have to pay for the postage return and once we have deemed the product as faulty after testing it, we will either exchange or refund you the cost of the product, the initial delivery charge and the return postage. PLEASE NOTE: We will only refund the lowest possible tracked postage cost, if you choose to return the product using a one day delivery we will only refund you the cost of standard tracked postage. You must take reasonable care to ensure products are not lost or damaged in the meantime or in transit.
In order to return a faulty item please contact us first, using the contact form at the bottom of our contact us page, tell us the reason you are returning the item, your order number and the product you wish to return. We will then five you an order returns number and tell you where to send the goods to be returned. All our products are covered with a 6 months warranty.



Which they do not appear to have followed.


The company has an address in london which does exist according to google maps. As the phone was sent there and returned from there then I believe it exists.


My question is really if the company continues to stonewall can I go to the credit card company and initiate a chargeback?

davidmcn

The company appears to be Synectiv Limited (not particularly upfront on the website but mentioned in their privacy policy. Company details here (same address) :

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03706138

shaun_from_Africa

davidmcn wrote: »

The company appears to be Synectiv Limited (not particularly upfront on the website but mentioned in their privacy policy. Company details here (same address) :

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03706138

If you look at the "Terms of use" on the Worldsim website, this is shown:

The parties to this Agreement are: WorldSIM Limited, a company registered in England, company number 05880013, whose registered office is at 2 Spring Villa Park, Spring Villa Road, Edgware, HA8 7EB, England and its affiliates (“WorldSIM”) who supply the Products and Services to the Customer.

They've been registered at companies house since 2006.

neilmcl

There's no such thing as a "UK land address", UK domains can be registered and used from anywhere.

unsure_consumer

Thanks for the replies, getting back to the original question if the company won't play ball how much chance have with the credit card company taking action. American express BTW.

steve900

Can I ask how much was the mobile telephone? I am really interested.

unsure_consumer

it was £100 with a online sweetener of £10 + £2 delivery. so total invoice £92.


It was an Umidigi A5 pro. In case anyone is thinking of buying one they look to be the equivalent of phones twice the price and had reasonable reviews.



As it is a little know make I had problems setting up mobile data with my current sim supplier, then it just failed totally. A common issue apparently.